India ready to give more aid but Pak silent

NEW DELHI: Even as more floods threaten to inundate Pakistan, the government there is reluctant to avail of India's offer of assistance.

India indicated on Monday that it was willing to give more assistance over the $5 million it has already pledged. "We can and are willing to do much more," senior sources in the government said.

But New Delhi is yet to receive a response from the Zardari government to its earlier offer of assistance of $5 million.

India's offer of assistance was conveyed to Pakistan by foreign minister S M Krishna when he spoke to his counterpart Shah Mahmood Qureshi last weekend. Pakistan's foreign office, however, did not mention the Indian offer, merely saying that Krishna had extended India's sympathies to Pakistan at the time of crisis. When questioned, the foreign office spokesman said Pakistan had not "rejected the Indian offer outright".

The Indian government had also come under some criticism for being slow off the ground. New Delhi took time to craft its response because of the memory of Pakistan's indifference to its offer to help with earthquake relief in 2005. It has, however, now got its act together. Sources said the government has already begun preliminary work on an assistance package with the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) which is resource-rich, and would even be willing to route the assistance through the UN if that's what Pakistan wants.

But it feels the bilateral approach is better because given the short distances, India would be able to reach assistance much faster to the affected areas in Pakistan. In fact, India is even willing to be the source country for assistance material for other countries, multilateral organizations helping out Pakistan, even NGOs.

But so far, Pakistan is yet to signal that it is willing to receive any aid through India, a move that is short-sighted in the extreme. Given the enormity of the catastrophe in Pakistan, and the prospect of more in coming days, India believes it can rush material across really quickly.

Pakistan had got $5 billion in international assistance in the wake of the earthquake that caused enormous destruction. But it has struggled to attract international assistance this time. What it has so far got -- just over $120 million -- pales before $1.2 billion that Haiti attracted after it was devastated by an earthquake.

US has led the international effort in Pakistan with an assistance of $80 million and by pressing heavy-lift choppers into rescue operations. But Pakistan's "all-weather " friend China and the Islamic nations it identifies with -- Saudi Arabia and other cash-rich ones -- have not stepped forward.

During the civil war in Sri Lanka, India had sent across family-packs that contained everything for a family for a specific time period. In Afghanistan, India supplies fortified biscuits which could be a good source of nutrition for children in Pakistan right now.

Pakistani authorities warned of a new flood wave making its way south along the Indus river and more heavy monsoon rains. The forecast came after UN secretary general Ban-ki Moon said it had received only 20% of the $460 million needed to provide aid.

The UN may organize an emergency meeting later this week to mobilize more funds.